Making The Grade
by Me-agaisnt-the-world
Summary: Sequel to EfFI It's bad enough Vlad torments him... but to kidnap him and his entire family! Danny must work fast to hope his secret stays a secret and to get his family and friends out of there before Vlad kicks things up a notch. bad summary, good story


**Well here it is! The sequel to Escape from Fear Island! I decided that since I get to do a lot of things for my Birthday, I've decided to give you all a treat and putting it up here. I sincerely believe you should read EfFI (link in my profile) before starting on this, but you should be able to get through it without needed to rely on it much. I hope you enjoy the first chapter and know that there's more to come : )**

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**Chapter 1

"WHEN I GET MY HANDS ON YOU, I'M GOING TO RIP YOU APART MOLECULE BY MOLECULE!" Jack Fenton roared as he and his wife, Maddie Fenton, chased Danny Phantom through another vacated street.

Danny Phantom's stark white hair blew astray in the wind, as his green eyes looked fearfully below. His black hazmat jumpsuit was torn in many different places, each displaying a bruise that bled ectoplasm. Danny sighed as he dodged another shot from the ecto-gun. _And for once I thought I could get home without someone trying to attack me_ Danny thought drily, looking back at his parents. This had been the third time in the last week that they were chasing him.

"_Danny, you there?_" The crisp sound of his sister's voice said through the Fenton phones.

"Yeah, I'm here," Danny said, urging himself to keep going and making sure the Fentons couldn't see that he was talking to some one. "And guess who tailing me with ecto-guns fully charged?" he added sarcastically.

"Come back here ghost!" Maddie cried at Danny, and shot another blast at Danny, which hit its target. Danny cried out in pain, but kept going. He had to ditch them so he could escape.

"_Mom and Dad_?" Jazz asked him dryly, yet concerned.

"Mom and Dad," Danny panted. "I don't how much longer I can keep this up, Jazz. I'm flying at top speed and after three ghost attacks tonight, I'm basically running on empty."

"_I'll do my best to stop them,_" Jazz told him through the Fenton phones. Danny sighed again, wondering what his sister was going to do. Soon enough, he heard a cell phone ring nearby. He looked down and saw his father digging into his orange jumpsuit trying to get to his phone.

"What is it Jazzy-pants? Daddy's trying to catch a ghost!" Jack said angrily into the phone. Danny snickered. His sister always had the best timing.

"_Um... Danny... didn't come home yet, I was just wondering if you knew where he was?_" Danny heard Jazz tell her father through the Fenton phones. Danny groaned.

"Way to go Jazz, now I'm gonna be in trouble either way," Danny told his sister irritably. Danny looked down at his parents. They looked really angry, but realized that this was his opportunity to escape. He flew towards FentonWorks and phased into the house at the fastest speed he could muster.

He saw his sister on the phone with their parents and set himself down against the wall near to her. Unfortunately, Jazz turned around that minute and screamed a startled scream.

"What's wrong Jazz?" Their parents asked loudly through the phone as Danny transformed back into his normal self, dropping the floor almost instantly.

"Danny! Don't sneak up on me like that!" Jazz said, annoyed. Danny paid no attention to her, not only did he feel exhausted, he now had a splitting headache. Jazz looked him over and was about to say something to him, but remembering that her parents were still on the line, she gave Danny a concerned look before returning to her conversation with her parents.

"It's nothing, Danny snuck up on me, that's all," Jazz said, coming up with a plausible excuse. Her parents told her something into the phone and she hung up. She then rushed over to her brother's side and helped him stand.

"Long night?" Jazz said, eyeing her brother sadly. She hated to see her brother so exhausted, but Danny knew what he was doing. He nodded. Over his shoulder was a battered Fenton thermos, which Jazz motioned to take from him. Danny made a noise out of protest and she retracted.

It took a few moments for Danny to regain some sort of self control. He broke away from Jazz's arm and stood by himself, swaying slightly. "Thanks Jazz," he said quietly.

"No problem," she replied, still eyeing her brother with concern. "Perhaps you should go upstairs or something. Mom and dad said they'd be home soon and I don't think you're up to answering any overprotective questions that they ask tonight."

Danny nodded, "Okay." He walked to the stairs and gripped the railing tightly as he lugged himself upstairs, Jazz looking at it pitifully.

When Danny finally made it to his room, he dropped onto his bed and moaned. He was too exhausted to move anymore. He grimaced as he took the thermos off his shoulder and put it on his night stand.

_Skulker, Technus and Desiree_ he thought, _and__ mom and dad._ _Why can't everyone just leave me alone for a bit, the amount of ghost activity shouldn't be on the rise during summer vacation! Though I have a feeling they're doing it to annoy me. _He looked at the thermos, annoyed. _I'm sure of it. _

As Danny pulled himself closer to his pillow, he felt eyes beginning to droop, he hadn't felt this exhausted since the fight at Fear Island with that duplicate of his jerky older self and Fear.

"Well," Danny muttered to himself, "I may be tired, but at least I'm not being ripped to pieces or something." He closed his eyes and almost instantly fell asleep.

At that moment, Jazz came walking into the room holding a tray of cookies. "Danny I brought..." she started but stopped as she saw her brother fast asleep.

She smiled sadly and walked over to his desk and putting the cookies down. She then went to Danny and carefully turned her brother over to make him more comfortable.

_He really wasn't kidding when he said he was running on empty_ she thought as she ran her hands through his hair. Her brother made a small gasp of pain but didn't wake. Jazz looked at Danny again and noticed his wounds. He had bruises all over his face they were shallow but it made Jazz wonder how her brother was getting this all done.

Sighing Jazz turned to leave; there was nothing that she could do to help her brother. "Get some rest Danny," she said gently as she walked to the door.

Just then, a huge slam of a door caught her attention. She knew instantly from her father's booming voice they failed miserably. _If they don't be quiet, they're going to wake Danny!_ Jazz thought irritably as she carefully closed Danny's door.

She went towards the stairs and saw her parents at the bottom, their disappointment showing. "Shh! Danny's asleep!" Jazz said angrily to her parents as she went down to meet them.

"I thought you said Danny wasn't home?" Maddie asked Jack.

"He came in not too long ago. He said he was feeling tired and fell asleep pretty quickly," Jazz replied.

Maddie gave her a searching look, then smiled and put away the ghost hunting gear while Jack went into the kitchen. A few moments later, his shouts of "Maddie, where are the cookies?" rang through the main floor. Jazz shared a smile with her mother and went into the kitchen to join her father.

"So... the ghost got away?" Jazz asked, trying to make conversation as her father tore apart the pantry in order to find the cookies he desperately craved.

"Yes. It was the strangest thing too, as soon as you called us, he suddenly disappeared," Maddie said to Jazz.

"Imagine that..." Jazz said, feigning surprise.

"But don't worry, I'll get him, or my name isn't Jack Fenton," her dad said, and Jazz sighed. Her parents didn't catch Danny and she was glad that they were sometimes too preoccupied with ghosts to notice something was wrong with her brother.

"You know, I'm starting to get worried about Danny," Maddie mused and Jazz perked her head up.

_Ok… maybe they are perceptive_ Jazz thought alarmed. "Why? There's nothing wrong with him," Jazz said automatically, receiving curious glares from her parents. "I-I mean nothing that teenagers go through," added hastily.

"I know," Maddie said to Jazz, eying her suspiciously. "I just think he isn't telling us something. He always seems to be tired lately. And after what happened a couple months ago…" her voice trailed at the end. "I mean, he told us that nothing's wrong, and we believed him. But he nearly died… and yet still insists that nothing's wrong. I just don't get it."

Jack looked at her, muddling over his wife's words. "Maddie, kids keep secrets, it's what they do," Jack said finally, "That was a scare for all of us, but I don't think Danny's in any danger from any of his actions. He's a good kid."

Jazz watched the interaction stiffly. It was a relief to hear that they're worried about Danny, but coming this close to secret could not be a good thing. _I need to distract them somehow…_ she thought. "Uhh Daddy... are you going to work on some new weapons tonight? Cause I would _love_ to see what you're working on… for… my new paper!" Jazz said with feigned interest.

To her pleasure, and dismay, her father dragged her into the lab to show her the new weapons they were working on. "I hope Danny appreciates this,"Jazz mumbled angrily to herself as she pretended to listen to her dad ramble on and on about the improvements to the Specter Speeder.

Maddie, however, did not follow the pair to the lab. Instead, she went up to peek into her son's room. He looked so peaceful, asleep as she entered. She had to admit, ever since Danny was found beaten badly with Sam and Tucker injured and close by to the most ghostly part of town 2 months ago had really opened her eyes to what a danger ghost hunting is to her family. Even though Danny swears that Danny Phantom wasn't the ghost that did it, she knew deep down that he had something to do with it. And she wouldn't rest till he was caught.

Her eyes swept the room and rested upon the Fenton thermos on his bedside. _I wonder why Danny has this up here? _Maddie thought as she sat at the foot of Danny's bed. He moaned slightly in his sleep but didn't wake. Maddie smiled as she looked at her baby boy.

_It's so nice to see Danny relaxing again, _Maddie thought, _he's been so jumpy lately, and after that attack… I'm just glad he's safe._

"Sleep tight Danny," Maddie said softly to Danny. She stroked his raven hair and noticed a couple of faint bruises on his face. "What on earth," she whispered, her hand brushing over one bruise. All of the marks seemed to have been cause by ecto-energy, she had seen enough wounds like that to know for certain. And the bruising that she saw on Sam, Tucker and Danny 2 months before, she knew that it had to be ecto-energy.

_I wonder if those are scars from what happened then… or… are they more recent?. _Her eyes fell upon the Fenton thermos once again. _Has _Danny_ been fighting ghosts?_ She asked herself. Sighing, Maddie left Danny's room, leaving the young boy to sleep peacefully into the night.

:--=--:

"Danny, you feeling ok?" Sam asked Danny as they walked towards the park. "You look like-"

"I was up since 2 trying to capture 3 escaped ghosts?" Danny supplied tiredly.

"Well… yeah," Sam said. He definitely looked worn, but being as he is, she didn't expect him to answer right away.

"It's been like this for the last few days… it's been about 10 ghost attacks… plus parents on ghost patrol," Danny ranted. "So much for a summer vacation."

"Have these ghosts even _heard_ of summer vacation?" Tucker asked sarcastically.

"If they have, their idea of relaxation is attacking the town," Danny agreed. "But for right now, all I want to do is relax and not talk about ghosts for the rest of the day."

Just then, the Fenton assault vehicle drove quickly by them, causing many cars to swerve out of the way to get out of Jack's driving range. From the top of the RV, a large megaphone was out and ready for use.

"Attention citizens of Amity Park," Danny's mom's voice announced clearly, "This is Maddie Fenton. We are looking for the ghost known as Danny Phantom, as his ecto-signature has been confirmed in this area."

Sam and Tucker looked at each other.

"So much for not talking about ghosts, eh Danny?" Tucker asked friend. Danny didn't respond. "Danny?" Sam and Tucker turned to see their friend walking the other way, clearly trying to get as far away from his parents as possible.

"Danny!" his friends called out, running to catch up with them. Danny paid them no notice as they came up beside him.

"See? They're more focused on catching Danny Phantom then ever before!" Danny exclaimed. He stomped off towards his house.

"Danny relax," Sam said, trying to calm him, "It'll get better… eventually."

"Yeah dude, they're going to find another ghost to worry about and forget all about you," Tucker told him, taking out his PDA. He started playing around with it while Sam looked at him annoyed.

_How in the world can he do that in a time like this?_ Sam thought. A small smile formed at Tucker's lips.

"Why are you so happy?" Danny asked bitterly. Tucker looked up at them.

"Because today, my friend, makes it 11 months that you got your ghost powers," Tucker said.

Sama and Danny looked at each other, then at Tucker.

"How in the world do you remember that, but can't remember not to drop the thermos?" Sam asked him sarcastically.

"Hey! I resent that," Tucker retorted, "I haven't dropped the thermos in months! Tell her Danny!"

Danny remained silent. Sam and Turner looked up and saw their best friend looking down in thought.

"Danny? You ok?" Sam asked him. He looked up startled, then smiled.

"Yeah, just thinking…" he said. His friends gave him an unconvinced stare and gears in his head moved hastily to find an excuse. "What? I'm just thinking…about… how don't we test my powers? It's probably been a while right?"

Tucker and Sam gave a glance at each other.

"I thought you wanted to have a ghost free day?" Sam asked. Danny shrugged in response.

Tucker looked at his PDA."Well," he started, "You're right about that. We haven't tested your powers for about 7 months… just before the-" he stopped himself quickly, realizing what he was about to say.

Catching his drift, Sam's eyes widened; Tucker was about to mention the CAT's, and in Danny's current mood they were not a good subject to start up on. "Yeah, you're, right we should test your powers," she said hurriedly, "It'll give us something to do."

"Yeah," Danny said, a bit distracted, searching the street for his parents. He turned to his friends. "And I know just the one to test!"

:--=--:

"I really don't like this," Sam said worriedly. She, Tucker and Danny stood in the outskirts of Amity Park so Danny could test his powers.

"Come on Sam," Danny said, walking into a clearing, "This is the best one to try out, apart from the wail!"

"Do you even remember what happened the last time you used that power?"  
Tucker asked, trying to get him to see some reason.

"I'll be fine," Danny assured.

"But remember what Clockwork said-"

"I remember, but he also said that I need to practice so I can control it," he said, "Besides, I was exhausted the last time I used it, now I'm not, so it'll be fine" _Or at least I hope so_ Danny thought sullenly.

"But-" they started but Danny cut them off again.

"No buts, I'm doing this," he said, before walking to the middle of the clearing. "Let's just hope I know what I'm doing," he mumbled as he started to focus energy. Sam and Tucker exchanged worried glances before heading to a safer distance.

Danny, seeing Sam and Tucker far away, sighed. "You ready Tuck?" he called back to them. He saw Tucker looked down at his PDA and gave him a thumbs up.

_It's now or never_ Danny thought, closing his eyes. He summoned the power from within him and the green circle appeared at his feet, his emblem shining brightly inside it. Ectoplasmic energy started to swirl its way around the circle, while the power inside Danny started to build ferociously. He tried to unleash the energy, but it just started to build even more.

Danny scrunched his eyes in concentration, dreading what was to come next. His raw power was starting to react violently inside him. Finally, a huge surge of pain engulfed him. Danny screamed in agony as more energy surrounded him. Danny couldn't take it.

"Danny!" he heard Sam and Tucker yell as his body began to burn.

Danny knew what he had to do. He focused again, ignoring the pain and after what seemed like an eternity, there was a huge, blinding explosion that sent Sam and Tucker flying backwards, slamming into the trees.

Sam and Tucker groaned and stood up wearily, checkingfor any seriously injuries on them. When they were satisfied they looked up and gasped; three quarters of the forest was uprooted, different plants were now blown in all directions, and a huge crater was is in the middle of the clearing, where the eye of the hurricane power was. Sam's eyes grew wide and starting to run towards the crater, closely followed by Tucker.

Sam reached the crater first and gasped at the sight she saw. Danny laid faced down with scratches all over him. She ran down to him and flipped him over onto his back so he could breathe easier. She noticed then that Danny's breathing was shallow and periodic.

"Danny?" Sam asked urgently, hoping that he was only out of breath. Danny merely groaned and scrunched his eyes tightly, before his muscles relaxed.

Tucker finally reached them and knelt down beside Sam, looking at Danny, concerned. "How is he?" he asked, worried.

"I dunno," Sam said, keeping her tone quiet. "But let's get him out of here, that explosion had to attract attention." Tucker nodded and helped Sam carry Danny away from the crater he intentionally created. They rested him against a tree and were going to sit down when they saw a blurry eyed Danny staring back at them.

"Danny," they said relieved.

"You see what happens when you don't listen to us," Tucker told him in false anger. "But no, you go off and get hurt… again."

"Maybe that wasn't a great idea after all," Danny whispered with a small smile. He tried to sit up but Sam pushed him back.

"You've had enough excitement for one day," Sam said, "Get some rest, we'll cover for you."

Danny opened his mouth to respond, but was so overcome by exhaustion, he passed out.

:--=--:

Clockwork watched as Danny's friends attempted to move him without waking him. The time ghost shifted from old man to child once more, as he turned to another window of time.

"You sent for us Clockwork?" a voice asked. The two ghosts, shrouded in darkness, waited to be acknowledged by the mysterious master of time. Clockwork, however, didn't respond.

"Clockwork?" the other asked impatiently.

"There will come a time," the time master began, "Where you'll need to figure out your duties on your own Ethelwulf."

The second ghost scoffed. "Perhaps, but _I_ am not _all knowing _as you are Clockwork. When I am summoned I would like to know _why_."

Clockwork turned to them, changing into his adult form. "Then watch, as the timeline unfolds."

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**Now... what do you think? I love to hear from you and for you to tell me what I can do better, and what your thoughts are about the last scene : ) **

**MATW**


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